Good etiquette is expected at meal time in the penguin colony, but the diners with the best manners are found on a new, special island for birds of a certain age. There, geriatric African penguins don’t have to worry about younger birds bombarding the buckets of fish delivered by trainers at the New England Aquarium […]
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More than 60,000 tons of plastic makes the journey down the Amazon River to the Atlantic Ocean every year. And that doesn’t include what finds its way to the river’s banks, or the microplastics ingested by the region’s abundant and diverse wildlife. It’s easy to demonize plastic, but it has been crucial in developing the society […]
Read MoreMIT aerospace engineers have found that greenhouse gas emissions are changing the environment of near-Earth space in ways that, over time, will reduce the number of satellites that can sustainably operate there. In a study appearing today in Nature Sustainability, the researchers report that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases can cause the upper atmosphere […]
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Though we still may be some weeks out until summertime, one of the go-to hairstyles for Black women during that season —a.k.a. braids— just might not see a resurgence thanks to a new consumer report. And what it revealed just might come as a shock. Suggested Reading Bakari Sellers Interview Suggested Reading In the newly-released […]
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A new MIT-led study confirms that the Antarctic ozone layer is healing, as a direct result of global efforts to reduce ozone-depleting substances. Scientists including the MIT team have observed signs of ozone recovery in the past. But the new study is the first to show, with high statistical confidence, that this recovery is due primarily […]
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In that instance, Justice Brett Kavanaugh dissented from the court’s new interpretation, which he argued was at odds with the statutory text. “The Court’s test narrows the Clean Water Act’s coverage of ‘adjacent’ wetlands to mean only ‘adjoining’ wetlands,” he wrote. “But ‘adjacent’ and ‘adjoining’ have distinct meanings.” Kavanaugh warned at length that the court’s […]
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Rohit Karnik, the Tata Professor in the MIT Department of Mechanical Engineering, has been named the new director of the Abdul Latif Jameel Water and Food Systems Lab (J-WAFS), effective March 1. Karnik, who has served as associate director of J-WAFS since 2023, succeeds founding director John H. Lienhard V, Abdul Latif Jameel Professor of […]
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Rum, a diamond-shaped island off the western coast of Scotland, is home to 40 people. Most of the island — 40 square miles of mountains, peatland and heath — is a national nature reserve, with residents mainly nestled around Kinloch Bay to the east. What the Isle of Rum lacks is artificial illumination. There are […]
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In the race to reduce climate-warming carbon emissions, the buildings sector is falling behind. While carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the U.S. electric power sector dropped by 34 percent between 2005 and 2021, emissions in the building sector declined by only 18 percent in that same time period. Moreover, in extremely cold locations, burning natural […]
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MIT’s Abdul Latif Jameel Water and Food Systems Lab (J-WAFS) has transformed the landscape of water and food research at MIT, driving faculty engagement and catalyzing new research and innovation in these critical areas. With philanthropic, corporate, and government support, J-WAFS’ strategic approach spans the entire research life cycle, from support for early-stage research to […]
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In the closing years of the Cold War, something strange started to happen. Much of the West’s trash stopped heading to the nearest landfill and instead started crossing national borders and traversing oceans. The stuff people tossed away and probably never thought about again — dirty yogurt cups, old Coke bottles — became some of […]
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The Haber-Bosch process, which converts atmospheric nitrogen to make ammonia fertilizer, revolutionized agriculture and helped feed the world’s growing population, but it also created huge environmental problems. It is one of the most energy-intensive chemical processes in the world, responsible for 1-2 percent of global energy consumption. It also releases nitrous oxide, a potent greenhouse […]
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Until a few days ago, Antonietta Moccia, a 61-year-old housewife, had little hope that the Italian authorities would ever tackle the illegal waste disposal that had long plagued her town and others just north of Naples. Her daughter was diagnosed with a rare cancer at age 5 in an area where clusters of cancers have […]
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A stream in a suburb of Buenos Aires, the Argentine capital, turned bright red this week, prompting residents to express concern that industrial chemicals could be to blame. Residents of Sarandí, about six miles south of the capital, told local news outlets that chemicals from several factories and tanneries in the area could have changed […]
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Even as much of the United States shivered under frigid conditions last month, the planet as a whole had its warmest January on record, scientists said on Thursday. The warmth came as something of a surprise to climate researchers. It occurred during La Niña conditions in the Pacific Ocean, which tend to lower the globe’s […]
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The Trump administration has warned more than 1,100 Environmental Protection Agency employees who work on climate change, reducing air pollution, enforcing environmental laws and other programs that they could be fired at any time. An email, reviewed by The New York Times, was sent to staff members who were hired within the past year and […]
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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. used to impress me. In the early 2000s, he did excellent work as an environmental lawyer taking on industrial hog farms that were fouling creeks and rivers, and we talked about making a visit together to North Carolina to document the pollution. But then Kennedy began to urge me to write […]
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When it comes to water use, most of us think of the water we drink. But industrial uses for things like manufacturing account for billions of gallons of water each day. For instance, making a single iPhone, by one estimate, requires more than 3,000 gallons. Gradiant is working to reduce the world’s industrial water footprint. […]
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The Senate on Wednesday voted to confirm Lee Zeldin to run the Environmental Protection Agency, where he will be charged with executing President Trump’s orders to dismantle major environmental regulations, and possibly parts of the 55-year-old agency itself. The Senate voted 56 to 42 to confirm Mr. Zeldin, a former House member with little experience […]
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President Trump is stocking the Environmental Protection Agency with officials who have served as lawyers and lobbyists for the oil and chemical industries, many of whom worked in his first administration to weaken climate and pollution protections. Lee Zeldin, Mr. Trump’s choice to lead the E.P.A., has little experience with environmental policy. He will be […]
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The first few days of President Trump’s second administration delivered a fusillade of executive orders about energy and climate policy. At first, what stands out is their many contradictions. In one order, Mr. Trump says that he wants the United States to become the world’s top producer of lithium, rare earth elements and other minerals […]
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For the first time, the Environmental Protection Agency has warned that “forever chemicals” present in sewage sludge that is used as fertilizer can pose human health risks, saying in a study on Tuesday that, in some cases, the risks could exceed the agency’s safety thresholds “sometimes by several orders of magnitude.” The agency maintained, however, […]
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Used in everything from soda cans and foil wrap to circuit boards and rocket boosters, aluminum is the second-most-produced metal in the world after steel. By the end of this decade, demand is projected to drive up aluminum production by 40 percent worldwide. This steep rise will magnify aluminum’s environmental impacts, including any pollutants that […]
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The new federal movement on PFAS, especially the drinking water standards, may help raise the bar for gauging safe consumption of other substances, like milk. In April, Consumer Reports conducted its own PFAS testing of milk available for sale in five states. While only six of the 50 samples tested positive for PFAS, those samples […]
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